


A Very Crime Sorciere White Day

by Estella May (Ariana)



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 21:18:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2165565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariana/pseuds/Estella%20May
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Blue Pegasus curses all of the chocolate in Fiore when they didn’t receive enough for Valentine’s, it’s up to the members of the new Crime Sorciere and Juvia to figure out what Jellal should give Erza for White Day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Very Crime Sorciere White Day

"Happy birthday, Meredy!"

"Ahh, thank you everyone!" Meredy looked up from her pink and white frosted cake and smiled happily, for it was her special day and all her dearest friends had gathered to celebrate it with her.

Well, all except for one.

"So Jellal-san couldn't make it after all?" Juvia asked, looking around the cozy little building that served as their new guild headquarters. It was full of the most adorable furniture and ornaments (that Meredy had picked out herself), but there truly was no sign of their fearless leader.

"I think he's still stuck in Era?" Meredy asked her guildmates. It was kind of sad that he couldn't be here for her birthday party, but she didn't begrudge him the chance to make nice with the new Magic Council.

And it was for a very excellent reason, after all.

"I think so," Sorano replied. "I guess even he doesn't know anything about this ancient curse that Blue Pegasus used on all the chocolate in Fiore. And all because they didn't get enough chocolates for Valentine's Day this year. A bit of an overreaction, don't you think?"

"Ah, but they did it out of love," Richard added, grinning widely as always.

"Love for what?" Sorano made a face at him. "I wish they would've thought of the rest of us before they carried out their harebrained little scheme. I can't even go near a sweets shop for my favorite desserts without all the crying and wailing messing up the mood."

"I don't see what the big deal is," said Erik, also making a face. "So nobody can eat or touch or even look at chocolate until they figure out how to lift the curse. So what?"

"Of course it's a big deal. White Day is next week, and Juvia won't be able to receive any chocolates in return from Gray, even after presenting him with a life-sized chocolate Gray statue on Valentine's," Meredy replied matter-of-factly as she put both hands on Juvia's face and started pulling her cheeks. "Are you saying that we should break this poor girl's heart?"

And as if on cue, Juvia's big blue eyes instantly welled up with tears.

"Urk!" Erik choked a little. "Well, I didn't mean that... I mean, people can just think of something else to give on White Day."

"Hmm, that's true. It might force you guys to be kind of… creative. I think that sounds like fun!" Meredy released Juvia's cheeks and clapped her hands together in glee. "Speaking of which, I wonder what our dear leader is planning to give Erza, since he can't give her cursed chocolate."

"Knowing him, probably something lame," Sorano snorted.

"Are you saying that you could come up with something better?" Sawyer asked, apparently indignant on Jellal's behalf.

"Well, Sorano does have a point," Erik interjected. "His idea of a first date was holding her hand and walking around Magnolia for four hours."

"I would certainly know more about what would please a woman than the likes of all of you." Sorano placed both hands on her waist and looked down her nose at them. "Jellal would consider himself lucky to receive some suggestions from me, since he certainly doesn't have a clue what to do on his own."

"Ah, but somehow I think he isn't likely to accept any suggestions that you might make," Macbeth smiled back at her.

"And I disagree with your assessment, my dear friend," Richard intoned in a most solemn voice. "I think in the matters of love, all of you must bow to my superior wisdom and knowledge."

"And since I can kind of read minds, you think I couldn't figure out what Erza Scarlet wants most for White Day faster than all of you?" Erik demanded.

"Hey, if we're talking about who's the fastest here at something, I won't be left out," Sawyer quickly added.

"And I've known Jellal the longest, so I'm sure I'm the one who can make a suggestion that he's actually likely to use!" Meredy wouldn't be left out either.

"I don't particularly care for the topic, but I resent the idea that I would lose to any of you in anything," Macbeth declared.

"Want to make it a bet?" Sorano asked.

"Name your terms," Erik immediately replied.

"Each of us gives Jellal an item for him to use as a White Day present. Whoever's item he chooses gets to order all the losers around for an entire day, no complaints allowed."

"What if he doesn't choose any of the items?" Juvia asked, rather hesitantly.

"Bet's off, I guess," Sorano shrugged.

"Ah, Juvia, you don't have to be included in this if you don't want to," Meredy felt sorry for her friend being dragged into their little quarrel, as fun as it might be.

"Juvia wants to be included!" she instantly insisted.

"Ah well, suit yourself. This should be fun, right?" Meredy gave her a quick hug, before preparing to cut the excellent cake that Richard had baked for her.

It probably wouldn't be quite as fun for Jellal, but he did deserve a little bit of punishment for missing her birthday.

Meredy giggled to herself as she picked up the knife.

* * *

"Watch your step there!" the train conductor called out to him as Jellal stumbled onto the platform.

He blinked once or twice, squinting a little as his eyes adjusted to the late evening sunlight that flooded Oshibana Station. After two weeks inside the Magic Council's archives, he was still adjusting to actually being outside again.

"Ahh, thank you and good evening!" he turned and replied to the man, who tipped his hat in response.

Up ahead, the train's whistle blew and it pulled away, heading towards its next stop at Clover.

"I can't believe it took me two weeks to escape Doranbolt's clutches," he muttered as he watched the train leave. "Maybe Erza was right, and I am too nice. And I do need to learn how to say no to people."

Maybe it was because of the large amount of very angry mail that he was receiving, but Doranbolt was in an extreme hurry to lift this ridiculous curse that had afflicted the entire kingdom's chocolate as soon as possible. It had taken him two weeks to convince the man that there was nothing he could do to help, despite his extensive background and study in all things obscure and illegal.

It wasn't as if he hadn't made an honest effort at solving their problem either. He had hoped, as much as anyone else, to lift the curse before White Day arrived. But now White Day was almost here, and he hadn't yet thought about what to do.

"Well, at least I still have tomorrow to think of something," he said as he turned and started walking back to the small house that he rented for himself. His shoulders were aching from being hunched over books for two weeks, and there was nothing more that he wanted right now than a good night's sleep. "That's an idea, though. Maybe I can give her some coupons for back rubs..."

The streets here in Oshibana were mostly quiet at this time of day, though almost everyone he passed greeted him with a smile and a nod. It was a small, obscure town on the railroad line between Hargeon and Clover, not nearly as big as the merchant cities of Magnolia and Hargeon to the south. But that suited them just fine, since Oshibana turned out to be just what they needed - a quiet, friendly place where they could relax and have what at least resembled a normal life during those periods when there was nothing to do.

"Our young master is finally back?" asked his elderly neighbor when he arrived at the small house on the outskirts of the town that he currently called home. She leaned out the window as she watered her plants, and greeted him with a warm, kind smile.

"Yes, but unfortunately I was not successful this time," he replied with a bow. "I'm afraid that unless they think of something by tomorrow, there will not be any chocolate for anyone this White Day."

"That's a pity," she laughed, "but you seemed to be sick of chocolate only a month ago."

It was true that he'd received more chocolates than he knew what to do with on Valentine's. He blamed the Weekly Sorcerer for the unwanted attention. Ever since they decided that he was "Fiore's Hottest Resident Bad Boy Turned Good," the resulting coverage had shot him to the top of their list of "Mages I Want to be My Boyfriend."

It was kind of disturbing how quickly he went from one of the most wanted fugitives in the kingdom to one of its most popular celebrities.

He personally didn't like this new attention any more than he liked being a fugitive, but Erza didn't seem to mind. In fact, she seemed more proud of it than anything else…

"Yes, and I am still thankful that you helped me dispose of it all before the curse came down," he replied, smiling. "I think you might have saved my life."

"Well, we are always happy to be of help. With you and your guild here, it's doubtful that we'll ever get attacked again like that time when Eisenwald almost destroyed our train station."

Jellal winced slightly. He had still been on the Magic Council at the time, and he knew that Fairy Tail had caused quite a bit of destruction to their station too. But he was glad that the town's residents were so supportive of their presence here. He had been worried about what they might think about a guild comprised entirely of ex-criminals taking up residence, and he had worked hard to appear as normal and respectable as possible.

And of course the other members of the guild hadn't exactly been helpful in the matter.

"How lovely it is to see you finally back," said a familiar voice.

"Richard!" Jellal jumped a little upon hearing his voice. He turned around and saw that the man was holding a large pink box and wearing an enormous white apron and chef's hat.

"I am deeply sorry that you were unsuccessful at lifting the curse," he said in a booming voice that was sure to echo down the street, though he didn't sound sorry at all. "Chocolate is an excellent way of conveying one's love, but is that not true of all food? For food is what gives us sustenance, what makes our bodies whole, what gives us the energy to live each day to the utmost! There truly is no better way of showing one's love than through the sharing and gifting of food, be it chocolate, bread, oranges, or potatoes! Just the thought of it positively fills me with so much love! Is it not the same for you?"

Richard leaned in uncomfortably close and grinned at him.

Jellal could see from the corner of his eye that his neighbor had forgotten all about her flowers and was gawking at them. A few passers-by on the street had also stopped to stare. He had no idea what brought about or why he deserved this sudden ambush, though his terror level was most definitely rising.

"Uhh, Richard, could we discuss this tomorrow at the guild? Now isn't a good time…" he asked, praying for a positive response. He really did not want to give the impression that their guild often had loud, insane discussions about food and love.

"But when is it not a good time to discuss love?!" Richard practically shouted in his face. "Especially now that we are so close to White Day, that most cherished day when couples express their love to each other in so many ways! But remember, food is most definitely the best way! Which is why I've brought you this!"

He opened the pink box and revealed a large, triple-decker cake decorated with blue candy hearts, red candy roses, and with Jellal's face plus the word "LOVE" drawn on the topmost layer in icing.

Jellal instinctively took a step back when he saw the cake. What was the meaning of this? Was Richard trying to confess to him or something?

"I see that you are truly amazed at this excellent token of love," Richard declared, mistaking his expression of shock for something else. "I worked an entire day and night on it, so I could fill it with thoughts of love and make it the most wonderful gift possible."

"Uhh, thank you…" he said, temporarily rendered speechless. Was this some kind of joke? He thought that everyone in the guild knew that he loved Erza. But with the small crowd that had gathered around them, he realized that he would really prefer to end this scene right now and sort everything out tomorrow at the guild.

Richard handed him the cake and winked at him.

Jellal smiled weakly in return.

"I will see you tomorrow then," said Richard as he turned to leave. "And remember always, food is the purest form of love!"

"Yes, see you…"

"What a remarkable young man," said his neighbor once Richard had walked out of sight.

"Yes, very remarkable," Jellal replied, before escaping inside of his house.

He collapsed onto an armchair, suddenly feeling extremely tired. The cake in his lap was in a magical temperature-controlled box and apparently still warm. It did look delicious and Richard was in fact an excellent cook. Maybe he could give it to Erza for White Day…

But no, that would feel so terribly wrong. There was no way he could do something like that, not to Erza.

But it would be such a waste to let one of Richard's excellent cakes stay uneaten. And there was certainly no way he would show the cake to anyone else.

There wouldn't be any harm if he just ate it himself, would there?

* * *

 Oshibana Town was a lovely place at dawn, Jellal had thought ever since he'd moved here.

Primarily a merchant town that bought and shipped agricultural and mineral goods from its surrounding villages to Magnolia and the port at Hargeon, it was already buzzing with activity each morning when he made the short trek from his home to the guildhall.

Farmers and miners who'd gotten up before dawn drove their carts along the streets to the merchant guilds, which were busy from sunup to sundown. Their new guildhall was in fact previously the property of one of the town's merchant guilds, one which had outgrown the building and moved elsewhere. It was small, but also perfect for a guild of only seven people.

Jellal always arrived there shortly after dawn, since he was in no danger of seeing his guild members for another few hours at the very least. Today was no exception, as he wanted to get through all the work that had piled up in his absence before the others arrived and made that impossible.

When he arrived this morning at the small two-story building on one of the town's main thoroughfares, he was rather relieved to see that it was still in one piece. He placed his hand on the lock, which recognized each of their unique magical signatures, and pushed the door open to reveal the small common area on the first floor. Here one could find little pink armchairs with fluffy pillows, lacy curtains, and various other things that Meredy had decided to inflict upon them. There were also two large bulletin boards, one for normal guild jobs and another tracking the movements of dark guilds across Fiore.

Since they were now a quasi-legal guild that was affiliated with the Magic Council but not under their control, they were still in a sense independent and could pursue their primary mission – destroying dark guilds with the eventual goal of one day destroying Zeref. But now that they were quasi-legal, it was no longer possible to make a living by destroying dark guilds and taking their more valuable property to sell on the black market. It was necessary to take on jobs that could pay the bills.

Other than the common area, the rest of the building was divided up into seven different private chambers for each member, two on the first floor and five on the second.

Jellal's was on the first floor, and he was surprised this morning to see that he had a visitor.

"Sorano!" he exclaimed upon seeing her seated on one of the armchairs placed before his desk. "This is a rare visit."

"And it's going to stay that way," she replied, staring evenly at him as he seated himself behind his desk. "I assume you didn't manage to solve the problem with the chocolate?"

"No, I was unfamiliar with that curse," he replied. "It was of a particular origin that I'd never seen before."

"I wasn't really expecting you to either."

"You're still as brutally honest as ever." Jellal winced slightly.

"Well, enough with the small talk," she said as she picked up the small sack sitting by her feet. "I came here at this ungodly hour of the morning for one purpose only."

She emptied the contents of the sack onto his desk, and out spilled a multitude of bright and colorful items, which upon closer inspection, were…

"Yes, this is underwear," Sorano picked up a lacy pink number and waved it in front of his face, smirking. "Ladies' underwear. I see from your expression that you've never seen such things before. I figured as much. Well, it's never too late to start."

Jellal didn't know quite how to respond to this. In fact, he was scared stiff. He truly had never really seen such things before, since he'd always tried to be as respectful of Ultear and Meredy's privacy as possible.

And he was trying hard not to stare. But that was slightly difficult when said items were being waved in front of his face.

"This right here is a set of pink panties and bra," said Sorano, holding up a set of pale pink underwear. "They're cotton, so they're nice and comfortable for everyday use. But they're also very cute, so they'll make you feel cute and confident too. And since they're so light-colored, you can wear light-colored clothing on top without worrying about bright lights or the occasional rain shower."

Jellal gulped. He was sure his face was a brighter shade of pink than those panties.

"This here is a set of bright red silk underwear. I personally have to say that silk underwear is my favorite, because it keeps me cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And they often come in really daring designs such as these, which I of course love. Plus, silk underwear simply feels amazing. Here, don't you agree?" Sorano picked up the panties and rubbed it against his face.

At this point, Jellal was sure that his face was just as bright red as those panties, which really did feel nice... But no! He had to focus on the situation at hand.

"And this," she said, picking up what looked like a piece of string, "is what's called a thong…"

"Wait! Stop!" Jellal finally found his voice again. "What? Why?"

"Oh, I guess I forgot to explain beforehand. I made a trip to Magnolia a few days ago and tracked down Lucy Heartfilia. And after some convincing, she told me that the thing Erza seems to be most fascinated with is sexy underwear. Apparently the poor thing has no clue about it and always blushes like crazy when she goes through Lucy's underwear drawers. So I figured that I could teach you all about it, so you can then give her these items and teach her as a White Day present," she rattled off while still holding the thong, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Uhh, wa-wait..." he stammered, still having difficulty stringing words together, "I-I'm thankful for the co-concern, but I ca-can't give her this for White Day!"

"And why not?" Sorano arched an eyebrow.

"S-she might think I'm a pervert or something..."

She actually laughed out loud at this statement. "Oh, you poor naive fool," she said, smirking at him, "so what? What if she's actually okay with it? Did you ever think that maybe she even wants you to be a pervert!"

"B-but, I'm not... erm, well, maybe I am... but I don't want her to think that! This is my first chance in fifteen years to be normal and respectable, so I'm going to make the most of it."

"Tsch, there's a difference between being normal and respectable, and being boring," she snapped at him. "But I suppose you're still in the mindset where you're punishing yourself and quite frankly, it pisses me off. There's nothing wrong with enjoying life's simple pleasures, like sweets or chocolate or your lady friend's underwear. But, I suppose if you insist..."

Sorano stood and turned to leave his chamber.

"At least keep these and think about it? Hmm?"

And she left him staring open-mouthed at the large pile of underwear on his desk.

* * *

 After Sorano disappeared from his doorway, Jellal could feel a headache coming on. First Richard, now Sorano... had they made some sort of pact while he was gone to make him as uncomfortable as possible? Were they trying to punish him for something? Was this about him missing Meredy's birthday...? He had tried to leave to arrive back in Oshibana in time, but there was no escaping Doranbolt's clutches back then.

He tried to bang his head against his desk but only succeeded in burying it in the pile of underwear instead. How fitting, he thought, for his current situation.

He made a mental note to apologize to Meredy, anyway.

He sighed and figured that he needed to collect himself and finish the pile of work that was sure to be waiting for him. But then he lifted his head and almost jumped out of his chair when he saw a figure standing silently in his doorway, staring at him.

"Uhh, Macbeth! G-good morning!" he quickly said, scrambling for words. "Umm, this isn't what it looks like."

The other man merely smiled evenly at him without even blinking.

"I don't collect women's underwear or anything, these aren't even mine! Really!" he stammered, while Macbeth continued to smile without saying anything. It was at this point that he realized that Macbeth was simply enjoying this scene and how he was making him uncomfortable. He quickly picked up the sack that Sorano had left on the ground and started stuffing the underwear inside.

"Please, come in," he said with as much dignity as he could muster, while he shoved the sack behind his desk. "Did you need something?"

"Good morning." Macbeth stepped inside his chambers but did not sit down. "You look pale. Are you well?"

"I am," he replied, seating himself behind his desk again. "I just hadn't seen daylight in two weeks, since I was more or less forced to stay in the Magic Council's archives the entire time."

"I see. And I gather that you were unsuccessful?"

"That's correct."

Macbeth smiled again. "We all have our limits, I suppose."

Jellal nodded slowly, completely baffled as to why he was here. Like Sorano, Macbeth also never came to pay social calls. He wasn't talkative like Erik was, nor was he friendly like Richard and Sawyer. And he found it extremely hard to believe that Macbeth would join in on some sort of weird pact with the others, even if it was to make him uncomfortable.

"This is an interesting room," Macbeth observed, looking around.

"Ahh, thank you?" he replied, not knowing what else to say.

"As an illusionist, I have always taken a particular interest in design. In my earlier years, that was limited to designing terrifying monsters, but that was because I was also limited in imagination. Now that I have grown and matured as a mage, I have realized that design encompasses so much more than that. In search of the perfect illusion, I have taken a strong interest in both interior and exterior design."

Perhaps he was wrong and Macbeth was in fact very talkative when it concerned subjects that interested him.

"Yes, I have also taken a strong interest in how to apply interior and exterior design to elicit certain reactions. If I wanted to produce a reaction of terror, for example, there are certain elements of design that would work very well. A complete denial of all senses, for example, would be enough to plunge most people into sheer terror. But that, frankly, is boring. My imagination must be free to come up with more creative ways of inducing terror."

"That's... a nice way of looking at it," Jellal commented. Who knew Macbeth could be so very talkative?

"Yes! It is! And I realized once again that I was limiting myself by focusing only on terror. I must be free to pursue other avenues, which in turn would enhance my imagination and therefore enhance my ability to terrify my enemies into submission. Which is why I am here to offer my services to you and your lady."

"...What?" This was probably the last thing Jellal expected to hear.

"To be quite honest, at first I found the idea of helping you with a gift for White Day distasteful. But then I realized that it would benefit me in more ways than one. I therefore went and studied what people consider to be romantic. And I focused my energies on designing illusions that I believe are the definition of romantic."

Jellal did not even get a chance to respond when he suddenly found himself sitting in what looked like a cave full of roses.

"I learned that people consider roses to be the most romantic flower. Red roses, in particular," Macbeth said, pointing to the carpet of roses covering the floor. "People also find being alone with their significant other in a dark place to be romantic, hence the cave. But people also find that they enjoy being watched and envied by others, something that only increases their bliss."

And with that, the cave's walls were suddenly covered with disembodied eyeballs, all staring down at them.

"What do you think?" asked Macbeth, evidently very pleased with himself.

"Uhh..." Jellal wondered what he should say. He could tell an absolute lie, that Macbeth had good taste and skill in design. Or he could tell the absolute truth, that he wished he was still blind. He decided to settle for something in the middle. "It's terrifying..."

"Oh? That wasn't what I was expecting. But I suppose my skill in designing terrifying illusions is so incredible that it influences the rest of my work as well."

"Yes, quite," he hastily agreed, wishing that Macbeth would release the illusion as soon as possible.

"I have other illusions prepared, if you are interested. They're not quite as good as this one, but I do believe that they are also very romantic."

"Thank you for the concern, but I'll have to respectfully decline," Jellal quickly replied, as he came to a sudden realization. "By the way, was this an agreement between all of you, to suggest White Day gifts for Erza?"

"Yes, it was," Macbeth nodded, looking slightly disappointed.

Jellal suddenly felt a thrill of actual terror run up his spine. The rest of the guild was going to give him a White Day gift suggestion too? After what he had seen so far, virtually all thoughts of completing his work disappeared. He had to go somewhere and hide. Right now.

"Good day to you!" he cried as he opened the window and disappeared in a flash of golden light.

* * *

 On days such as these, Jellal sometimes wondered why his life had gone so wrong.

He had once been a normal kid growing up in a seaside village on Fiore's southern coast. Back then his greatest ambition had been to study hard enough so that he wouldn't have to go into fishing like the rest of his poor, yet happy family. There was no way he could've imagined that his village would get raided by a Zeref cult, the rest of his family slaughtered, and him dragged off to go build that thrice-cursed tower.

And then that had started the chain of events that had somehow ended with him hiding in this tree on the outskirts of town from his completely out of control guild members and their demented ideas.

It wasn't his first choice, to be sure. He had looped around the town a few times, trying to find a nice, safe place to hide, at least for the rest of the day. However, most of the places he considered were dismissed as too close to places where his guild members might frequent - Erik's favorite tavern, Meredy's favorite dress shop, or Sawyer's favorite audio lacrima store.

A cool breeze blew by, rustling the brand new leaves that had just sprouted again after a long winter.

Then again, perhaps he was being too negative. Things had finally been going well for him lately, after so long. And as for everything else, well, it was difficult to imagine how his life would've been like if things had turned out differently.

Before he was rather forcibly turned into one, he hadn't ever considered becoming a mage. But now he couldn't imagine himself as anything else.

His guildmates could be exasperating at times, but they were a remarkably well-matched and effective fighting unit. He might be loath to admit it, but he did enjoy their company and he was happy to have met them.

Ultear, wherever she might be now and despite all their history, he was glad to have met too.

And as for Erza... he leaned back against the tree trunk and smiled. He believed that he would've met Erza somehow, somewhere, no matter what.

"I swear, your thoughts are so loud and sappy, I could hear them straight across town."

Jellal jumped and almost fell out of the tree.

Erik jumped and grabbed onto one of the lower-lying branches, before swinging himself with considerable skill onto a nearby branch.

Jellal mentally kicked himself for not just leaving town for the day, but upon closer inspection, he realized that Erik was not quite himself. Normal Erik was loud, blustery, the center of attention in any room. This Erik on the other hand, was fidgety, slightly withdrawn, and paler than usual. He was concerned. Had something happened?

"Yes, something terrible happened," Erik shouted and pointed a finger at him. "And it's all your fault!"

"What?" he exclaimed, completely bewildered.

"Well, actually it's more Sorano's fault," Erik said, scratching his head. "Richard and Meredy too. Oh, umm, it might be kind of my fault too..."

"What happened?" he asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"You're right, I'm not sure I'd want to hear this either." Erik shuddered. "Well, what happened is that while I was down in Magnolia visiting Kina last weekend, I sort of made a side trip. And by side trip I mean I followed Erza around for a few hours so I could hear what she was thinking."

"You what?" Jellal was outraged.

"It was just so I could hear what she wanted most for White Day!" Erik threw up his hands. "I don't make a habit of snooping on people's thoughts most of the time. In fact, I make sure I stay out of some people's heads for the sake of my own sanity. Meredy and Macbeth, for example. And uh, after what happened last weekend, I'm adding Erza to that list."

Jellal was speechless. On the one hand, he was still outraged that Erik would invade her privacy like that. On the other hand, he was kind of curious as to what exactly happened that merited such a reaction.

"Well, what happened was that I arrived at Magnolia bright and early on Saturday morning because I wanted to get this over with so I could spend the rest of the day with Kina. I stationed myself by the Fairy Tail girls' dormitory, near enough that I could see who was coming and going, but far enough that I wouldn't be mistaken for some sort of pervert. I know, I know, I can hear that you're really impressed with my planning skills."

Erik gave him a thumbs-up, even though he was thinking nothing of the sort.

"So about half an hour later, I see someone coming out of the building. At first I wasn't sure who it was, since they were wearing a pretty ridiculous disguise. And by ridiculous, I mean large hat, sunglasses, scarves, and covered head to toe in this black cloak. But then I notice the hair spilling out of the hat and I can see that it's pretty clearly Erza. I can hear that she wants to get to this bookstore in town as soon as possible because they're getting her favorite author's latest book today. I figure that I'll just follow her as she goes to the bookstore, since what's the worst that could happen?"

Erik shuddered a little bit before continuing.

"Well, I follow her across town and the whole time I'm getting second-hand embarrassment because I can hear the townspeople wondering about her ridiculous disguise and how they clearly know that it's her but are afraid to say anything. Then she goes into this bookstore that doesn't even have a sign and starts interrogating the owner about the book. Turns out that they had a shipment delay and won't be getting it for another two weeks. But then they gave her an entire stack of free books as a way of apologizing about it. They're really, really afraid of her, you see."

Erik leaned in slightly as if he was imparting some great secret.

"And uhh... turns out that they were... ecchi books."

"E-ecchi...?" Jellal stuttered.

"Yeah, you know... kind of like a girl's equivalent of a porn stash. You do know what a porn stash is, right?"

"Of course I know what that is!" he shrieked.

"Okay, just checking. I mean, with you, you never know." Erik shrugged. "And uh, I'm not one to judge, but Erza likes some stuff that's really out there. Like, stuff that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. And after about ten minutes of listening, I decided that I'd had enough and went over to the Fairy Tail building to visit Kina. And I asked her if the stuff that Erza likes is what girls usually like. And Kina said no, that's just Erza..."

"Wait, you asked Kinana about this?" Jellal could hardly believe his ears.

Erik stared at him as if he was being silly. "Of course. We tell each other everything. And then that other girl, blue-haired, what's her name again...? Oh, that's right. Levy. She overhears and then comes over and hears why I'm there. And she tells me that Erza's been reading those books ever since she was twelve or so, and uh, her tastes have developed over time. And she actually has that particular book that Erza wanted, since she's one of the publisher's best customers and they treat her right. Then she fetches it and gives it to me, since she says it's for a good cause."

He reached into his coat, pulled out a hardback book, and tossed it over to Jellal. It looked to be almost five hundred pages long and the cover featured a shirtless man with very well-defined chest muscles staring broodingly into the camera.

"Yeah, it's called Duke Raregroove's Secret Love Child for Tax Purposes, Part Ten of the Queen's Desire series. And uh, that guy does kind of look like you." Erik looked kind of sick at the thought. "But still, it's the perfect White Day gift! It's exactly what Erza wants."

Jellal was having a bit of difficulty processing all this information. Firstly, he felt that this was a major invasion of Erza's privacy and he really had no right to know all of this. However, he was getting more and more curious about exactly what this book was about.

One thing was certain though, there was no way he'd give this to her as a White Day gift. And not because he wanted to read it himself. And certainly not because he was intensely curious as to what exactly Erza liked.

"If I gave this to her," he said, holding the book up, "then wouldn't Erza think that I'm some sort of psycho stalker who sends people to follow her around Magnolia?"

"So? I heard you used to do that all the time," Erik look confused.

"That's when I wasn't exactly myself! I don't do that anymore! I'm normal and respectable now!" Jellal sighed and leaned back against the tree trunk. "Or at least I'm trying to be, very unsuccessfully."

"Being normal is overrated," said Erik, echoing what Sorano had said earlier. "It's better to just be yourself. Honesty is the best policy, or at least that's what Kina and I think. And to be quite honest, after everything I heard, I think Erza's not exactly interested in normal."

He stood up on the tree branch and hopped down onto the springy grass below.

"Just think about it, won't you? I'll be at the tavern for the rest of the day if you need me. I'm really in need of some brain bleach now that this is all over. And uh, good luck buddy. You'll need it."

* * *

 As soon as he saw that Erik was a safe distance away, Jellal breathed a sigh of relief. This was of course because it was hard not to be on guard whenever Erik was around, and not at all because he wanted to examine this book without Erik snooping on his thoughts.

Having satisfied himself as to the purity of his intentions, he flipped open the cover and began perusing its contents. So engrossed was he in this task that he didn't even realize that someone was sitting on the branch next to him until he spoke up.

"That looks like an interesting book," said Sawyer, looking over his shoulder.

"Aah!" Jellal instantly slammed it shut. "Where did you come from?"

"I followed Erik when I saw him coming over in this direction. We couldn't find you at the guild hall, so I guessed that Erik would probably be the fastest at figuring out where you went."

"It was a nice day… so I went out for a stroll…" he said, forcing a smile.

"So you like climbing trees? And reading books?"

"I do like reading books a great deal," Jellal nodded, wondering where this was going. Sawyer might be the friendliest of his new guild members, but that didn't mean that conversations with him were any less odd.

"I don't like reading books so much, except when I'm wearing Gale-Force Reading Glasses, so I can test how fast I can make it through a book. It's great!"

"I see…"

"Speaking of reading, do you like the Weekly Sorcerer?" Sawyer asked him, his eyes sparkling all of a sudden.

Jellal flinched at the mention of the Weekly Sorcerer. "Not if I can help it."

"I know, I used to not like it either. But then, several years ago, something changed."

Sawyer stopped and looked at him expectantly, so Jellal nodded and said, "Do tell."

"Well, it was when we were in prison. At first, there was nothing to do but sit around and stare at the wall all day, and I thought I was about to go insane. But of course you know all about that."

"Err…yes."

"But then I saw that the guards sometimes left copies of the Weekly Sorcerer on the floor by my door that they'd look at when standing guard. And so one day I was able to snatch one fast enough that the guard didn't notice. It turned out to be an old issue focusing on Fairy Tail."

"Really?" Jellal was actually starting to get interested in the conversation now.

"Well of course I at first refused to read it because of our history with each other. But, I have to admit, I eventually got desperate enough and started flipping through it. There was the usual stuff, gravure shots, interviews, features on new technology and merchandise coming out. But I didn't really care much for any of that. In fact, I was almost to the end of the issue when I finally saw it."

"What?" Jellal asked, genuinely interested now.

"It was a copy of the full lyrics of the song BEST FRIEND by Gajeel Redfox," said Sawyer with a worshipful look on his face. "When I saw it, it was like love at first sight. The lyrics were so deep and real, that I felt as if it was truly speaking to the depths of my soul. I know all too well the feeling of not being wanted but then finally finding someone who treats me right, and then that person becomes more important to me than either goodness or evil. It was as if this songwriter knew the fastest way to my heart."

"Ah, that's… impressive," said Jellal, trying to remember if his former teammate during the Grand Magic Games had ever shown any musical inclinations. All he could remember was Gajeel occasionally scribbling on pieces of paper, then scowling at the results and tossing them away. So those were song lyrics after all? Jellal had always assumed they were love letters or something similar.

"I swear, reading that song over and over kept me sane during those long years in prison." Sawyer looked as if he might cry. "So the first thing I did after I finally regained my freedom was go to Fairy Tail and track down the musical genius who had written it. And he was so incredibly gracious and said I was his best fan ever. Could you believe that?"

"This is all very surprising to me," he said truthfully.

"Exactly! Gajeel is so amazing. That naked ice dude that I once fought with sort of screamed when he saw me and tried to attack me, but Gajeel defended me. And then he put his arm around me and took me to go meet what I think was his girlfriend. And he told her that I was his best fan and he might actually make it as a musician after all, and she kind of just stared at me." Sawyer looked slightly confused. "But then Gajeel was nice enough to make the first ever recording of his song and give it to me as a gift. It's my most valued possession."

"That was very nice of him," said Jellal, wondering exactly what sort of song inspired such devotion.

"I know! And so, umm, you know how you said before that Erza is kind of like your best friend?" Sawyer removed an audio lacrima from his jacket and looked at it worshipfully. "I made a copy of my most valuable possession for you to give to her for White Day. It is a symbol of both of the friendship between you and me, and you and her. I truly believe that it would also be the fastest way to her heart."

"Thank you," said Jellal, genuinely moved by this gift and the feelings behind it. He received the audio lacrima and gave it a small jolt of magic power, enough to turn it on.

 _There aren't many guilds who would take me_  
I am a hungry and lonely wolf  
Anyone who takes me with them I'll get close to  
Even if they used to be an enemy  
I'll still sing for them about friendship and longing

Well, that was a bit strange but not terribly awful, he thought.

 _Colorful, colorful, an early morning_  
The melody of love, iron-colored metal  
Shoobydobop, shalala~  
Good morning, shalala~  
Bite into it, it's sweet as honey~

Jellal was starting to have second thoughts about this song.

 _This world takes the upright for idiots_  
You've always been taken as an idiot  
Is that to say  
Being an idiot is being upright?  
Hey… guy, can you hear?  
The song coming from my soul

 _Like a miracle, like a miracle, an early morning_  
Fish and pork liver, full of iron  
Shoobydobop, shalala~  
Good morning~ Shalala~  
Bite into it, it can treat anemia~

"Isn't it just wonderful?" Sawyer exclaimed.

 _If there are two paths of righteousness or evil before you_  
Which one would you choose?  
No… there's no way to make this choice…  
Because there isn't the choice of "friendship" in there!

_Shalala~ Good morning~_

"So what do you think?" Sawyer looked at him expectantly.

Jellal hesitated, trying to keep his face straight. "That was very... unique," he said, searching about for a diplomatic enough answer.

"It's truly special, the most special gift that you could give someone."

"Special is one way of describing it, yes." He wondered briefly what Erza would say if he gave this to her. Perhaps she would think that he'd truly lost his mind. Although at times, such as today, he wondered how sane he must actually be. Could it be that the members of his guild were the normal ones and he was the one who'd gone insane again?

In any case, he didn't want to offend Sawyer.

"I really appreciate this," he said. "In fact, I think I'll keep it myself as a symbol of how much I treasure our friendship."

"I'm so happy that you like it too," Sawyer cried, clutching Jellal's arm. "The others told me that I was crazy for liking this song. I can't wait to tell them that you like it too. And I'll tell Gajeel that he has another fan, but I'll of course always be his best fan."

"That's great," Jellal smiled weakly. "Just great."

* * *

It was almost noon when Jellal finally managed to see Sawyer off. He thought about going back home and having some more of Richard's cake for lunch, but he decided to read some more first.

He had always loved books, ever since he was a child. Be it for a brief escape from reality or a noble quest for more knowledge, he loved all the things that reading books offered.

And that was certainly what he needed right now - a brief escape from reality. Or was this a noble quest for knowledge? Jellal shrugged and flipped open the book. Why not both?

"Yoohoo!" cried a voice from down near the base of the tree.

Jellal instantly tensed up again and slammed the book shut. But then he looked down below at the newcomer and relaxed again. "Oh, it's just you, Meredy. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you found me too."

"Well, of course not." Meredy smirked up at him. She wore a green coat over a matching dress, with a cloth bag slung over her shoulder. "I found a map of the town and drew circles around the places where I knew you'd avoid, and decided that this was where you'd be by process of elimination."

"You know me so well," he sighed wearily.

"Naturally." Meredy placed both hands on her waist. "Now, are you going to make me climb that tree in this dress? That's not very friendly."

"My apologies," he replied, jumping down to the green lawn where she stood.

"That's better," she said, sitting down on the springy grass and motioning for him to do the same.

Jellal sat down and almost jumped back up when Meredy let out a loud squeal.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, staring at the book in his arms. "How did you get your hands on the super-rare extra-limited hardcover edition of the latest Duke Raregroove book? I wrote to the publisher, begging them for one, but they said they were all out."

He wasn't exactly sure if he should be surprised that Meredy read those books too. Well, he was certainly unsurprised that she had no qualms admitting it. "Errr, Erik gave it to me and suggested that I give it to Erza as a White Day gift."

Meredy looked extremely impressed. "That's so amazingly thoughtful of him," she said, nodding approvingly. "Very good suggestion."

"I'm certainly not going to take that suggestion," he replied. "He found out that Erza liked reading these by following her around town and listening in on her thoughts. If I give it to her, she'll think I'm some sort of psycho stalker who sends people to follow her around town."

"Oh, so Erza likes these books too?" Meredy asked, completely disregarding everything else he just said. "She has excellent taste. Although, I have to admit that the duke isn't really my favorite character in this series. I think I like his best friend the Ice Lord Renault more. He just has more of a sparkle to him. I mean, sure, the duke is handsome, smart, and powerful and all, but he's also just so moody and I think he likes being spanked just a bit too much..."

"Meredy!" he cried, completely outraged. "I haven't read it yet!"

"Oops, sorry," she quickly replied, though she didn't look very sorry at all. "I forgot."

"Besides, you have terrible taste in men," he said, thinking back on the steady stream of shady characters that she'd brought in to meet him lately.

"It's not my fault that the loonies are the only ones willing to fill out your three-page questionnaire!" Meredy huffed at him.

The two of them exchanged glances, and after a few seconds broke out into laughter.

"You've had a rough day, haven't you?" Meredy giggled as she patted him on the shoulder.

"A terrible one," he nodded, his shoulders sagging forward. "But at least it's over now. I mean, you are the last one, I hope."

"Oh? Has Juvia come to see you already?"

"What?" Jellal felt a shiver go up his spine. "You got Fairy Tail involved as well?"

"No, it's just Juvia. I guess not then." Meredy looked contemplative for a few moments, then an evil grin spread across her face as she rubbed her hands together. "But I suppose she would've had no way to find you, since you were sitting up in a tree."

"Err, no," Jellal was a bit unnerved by how much she reminded him of Ultear at that moment. All he knew was that she was thinking up some sort of nefarious plot, and someone was likely to suffer a great deal as a result. And somehow, he had an inkling that that someone might be him.

"Well then, without further ado... you know how we've been constantly experimenting over the past six years or so to enhance our powers?" Meredy asked him.

"Yes, of course." He had managed to unlock True Heavenly Body Magic, while Ultear had learned how to evolve her Time Arc to affect humans to a certain degree. Meredy, however, had always been rather secretive about her own studies, so he didn't know what the results might be.

"I'm ready to show you what I've learned," she declared with a touch of pride, and then rummaged in her coat pocket and removed a figurine. "But first, take this."

"What?" Jellal looked at the figurine that she handed to him. It was of himself, one of the many that Meredy had commissioned and sold to raise funds to purchase their new guild hall. "If you want me to give this to Erza, she uh... she already has one."

"But this is no ordinary figurine!" Meredy wagged her finger at him. "This one is special. Just watch."

She cast some sort of spell and suddenly the figurine glowed pink. At the same time, Jellal felt a strange sensation of warmth, and then an extremely odd feeling, as if someone was holding him.

"What do you think?" she asked, her eyes bright and expectant.

"Did you just cast a sensory link between me and the figurine?" he asked, as the realization slowly dawned on him.

"Aha, you figured it out so quickly!" Meredy laughed and clapped her hands. "Just as expected of Jellal. Well, what happened was that I was thinking of ways to improve my magic, and then all of a sudden, I remembered Mr. Cursey! Oh, that's right. You probably don't know who Mr. Cursey was. He was this voodoo doll that Kain used to have, and he actually worked! All you had to do was put a person's hair into Mr. Cursey and you could control that person. So I figured that I could do that too, in a way. Then I researched magical materials and their synthesis until I created one that was compatible with my magic. And you're looking at the results!"

"Meredy," he said, putting the figurine very gingerly down on his knee, "I'm not sure how to say this. Well, ahh... let's just say, most normal people, when looking at a voodoo doll... their first thought isn't, 'Ooh, I can do that too!'"

"But I'm not most normal people," Meredy blinked at him and smiled. "I'm special and unique. Just like you."

Jellal was speechless for a moment, and then he realized that he had nothing to say to that.

"I think this would make such a lovely and romantic White Day gift too," she sighed happily. "Just think, no matter how far apart you two are, she can still kiss you good night, among other things... Oh, and don't worry. I'm still not able to cast a full sensory link between a living and non-living entity, so it shouldn't be able to kill or incapacitate you or anything. I think."

Jellal suddenly turned bright red as he thought of what those "other things" might be. "Cancel the link right now," he gasped.

"All right."

The figurine glowed pink again and he felt the sensory link break.

"I appreciate the thought, Meredy, but I don't think this will work."

"Oh?" Meredy looked slightly disappointed.

"I can't run the risk of being on a mission somewhere when suddenly something comes across on the link," he explained, still bright red. "It would be ah, too distracting and might put myself and others in danger."

"True," she replied, shrugging as she took the figurine back. She stood up and stretched a little, before walking back in the direction of the guild. "I suppose all that's left is to wish Juvia the best of luck. Lend me that book when you're done reading it, okay?"

"Right..." Jellal realized then that he truly had no idea what was in store for him next.

And that in turn sent his fear level higher than it had been all day.

* * *

Once Meredy had left, Jellal remained seated beneath the tree and tried to recall all that he could about his old teammate on Fairy Tail's B Team in the Grand Magic Games.

Which honestly wasn't a lot.

Still, Juvia had seemed like a nice sort of girl, always polite and courteous to the other members of the team. But then there was that slightly creepy obsession with Gray Fullbuster. And she did go off into some sort of world of delusions quite often, interrupting their team discussions on strategy with some bizarre and completely unrelated statement that was usually about Gray. And she did spend an hour each night sewing Gray dolls and other paraphernalia before going to sleep.

Jellal groaned. He was about to get a Gray doll, wasn't he? Well, at least that wasn't as disturbing as some of the other things that he'd seen today. And it wasn't like the other members of Team B would come up with anything better. He'd already gotten an earful of what Gajeel would offer him. After he learned that Mirajane carried handcuffs around with her in her dress pockets, he didn't really want to think about what she might come up with. And as for Laxus, he felt that he might break his brain trying to think of what Laxus might suggest.

He sighed and stretched out his legs, suddenly feeling incredibly tired. It had been a rather long day for him, even though it was only just after noon. But at least it was almost over.

"Jellal-san!" a voice called out.

He looked up and saw the girl in question waving as she ran towards him from the direction of the guild. Juvia was dressed in her customary blue dress and furs, and she carried a very large bag slung over her shoulder.

"Ah, Juvia," he replied, standing up. "It's good to see you again. I hope that you are well?"

"Yes, Juvia is very well," she said once she came to a stop in front of him. She smiled and her cheeks were pink, probably from the exertion. "Meredy told me that you would be here if Juvia ran here as fast as she could!"

"She was right," Jellal said, eyeing the bag with some apprehension. He briefly imagined walking back through town with a giant Gray doll and what the townspeople might think.

The thought gave him heartburn.

"Oh, this!" Juvia quickly noticed where he was looking and set the bag on the ground. She loosened the drawstrings and removed a giant… teddy bear. "Juvia made this for your White Day present for Erza-san!" she smiled happily.

Maybe it was the utter relief washing over him, but the teddy bear really was kind of… cute. And even with his own untrained eye, he could see that it was incredibly well-made.

And Erza loved cute things, didn't she? She was usually dressed in clothes by Heart Kreuz, purveyor of cute outfits to almost every girl in Fiore. He briefly recalled how she attempted to confiscate his coat after Meredy told her it was custom-made by Heart Kreuz.

Maybe he could use this.

"Thank you," he said, allowing himself a smile of relief. "This looks very well-made. It must've taken a lot of work."

"Oh, not at all! Juvia can make something like this pretty quickly," she replied, looking slightly thoughtful and a bit sad. "But of course Juvia has had plenty of practice making all sorts of dolls!"

Jellal gulped. Well, of course she did. "Thank you again," he said, wanting to change the topic. "This is probably the first normal present that I've seen all day."

"The first?" she looked at him quizzically. "Didn't Meredy give you the dress that she made? We had a little sewing party last week and made our items together."

"Err… no," he replied, completely confused. "She tried to give me a pseudo-voodoo doll with a sensory link to myself."

"Oh." Juvia's eyes went very large and round. "That was… very thoughtful of her."

"Quite."

"Why didn't Juvia think of something like that!" she cried, clenching her fists. She went bright red and steam rose from the top of her head. "If Juvia had such a doll of Gray-sama, then she could prove her love once and for all! Juvia must bow to Meredy's superior wisdom and insight."

Jellal didn't know Gray very well, but he suspected that he would not appreciate being the unwilling recipient of such a link. "Actually, I don't think I would recommend it. I think it was just another one of Meredy's strange ideas."

Juvia, who had covered her eyes with her hands while she squirmed where she stood, instantly lowered them and peeked at him over the tips of her fingers. "Does Jellal-san know what Gray-sama might like then?" she asked, with a trace of hopefulness in her voice.

"I don't think I'm the best person to give anyone love advice," he quickly replied, sensing that he was about to step into a minefield. And besides, with his history… who in their right minds would actually come to him for that sort of advice?

"Juvia thinks you are…" her voice trailed off as she looked askance and blushed. "Juvia… ah, followed you and Erza around Magnolia a few times when you were on your dates."

"You what?" Jellal wasn't sure whether to be shocked or appalled.

"It's because Juvia never knew what a normal date was like!" she cried. "Juvia's never gotten to go on a normal date. Before, it was because of the rain… but now, Juvia wants that very much! And none of the other girls can give Juvia good advice on what to do on a normal date. Levy-san just blushes and says she has no idea what Juvia's talking about. Mira-san suggested a home-cooked meal, but Juvia's attempt at making Juvi-bread and Gray-bread didn't really go as planned! And Cana-san's suggestion of feeding Gray-sama food and water from Juvia did not go very well either. Juvia is too afraid to ask Erza-san for advice. And Juvia would sooner die than ask her love-rival Lucy for help!"

She looked so miserable that Jellal couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Plus she had done him a huge favor with that teddy bear, and he wasn't one to let kindnesses go un-repaid. And besides, it was rather refreshing to find someone else as interested in normalcy as he was.

"I suppose I could try to help…" he said, rather hesitantly.

"Oh, thank you!" Juvia was now clutching a pen and notepad that had somehow materialized out of nowhere. "Jellal-san is the best."

"Well, ah, what would you like to know?"

"How did Jellal-san capture Erza-san's interest?" she asked, staring at him intently. "From what Juvia heard, Erza-san is completely unapproachable. She even punched Loke-san in the face when he said that her hair smelled nice. Surely someone who knows how to capture Erza-san's heart would find it easy to capture Gray-sama's heart as well!"

Jellal scratched his head. To be quite honest, he couldn't recall ever having specific designs on her. "It was just something that happened," he replied, somewhat lamely.

Juvia looked completely unimpressed with this answer, but she scribbled it down nevertheless. "What would you do on a normal date?" she pressed on.

"Well, normally we just go visit some place that either Erza or I have never been to. Like this one time when Erza decided to take me to this pool hall that she said held a lot of memories for her. She tried to teach me how to play pool but ah, we got kicked out of the place about ten minutes later. But it wasn't a complete loss since we went to the dessert shop next door. It was really convenient and all, going right through the hole in the wall. And the dessert shop people were extra nice to us and gave us lots of free desserts… Actually, that's probably not the greatest example…" his voice trailed off.

"Destroying things…" she mumbled as she scribbled on her notepad. "Juvia can do that too!"

"Actually, that's probably not a good idea…"

"But it brought the two of you closer together, yes?" Juvia's eyes shined.

"Err, yes. It's actually a treasured memory of mine," he replied.

"I see," she said, scribbling furiously.

"Let me give you a different example. This other time we went on a job together in Clover town, since she wanted to show me what a job was like. It was to drive out a group of sabertooth rhinofrogs that had taken up residence in the mountain overlooking the town. We got rid of the rhinofrogs, but ah… we might've gotten rid of the mountain too… That's a terrible example… I apologize…"

Juvia nodded vigorously as she continued to scribble on her notepad.

Jellal suddenly felt extremely silly. That despite all his protestations to the contrary, he was probably just as ridiculous as the people he held up as an example of what not to do.

"I'm sorry, I can't give you any good advice on how to have a normal date…"

"No, this was great advice, Jellal-san!" Juvia beamed at him. "Juvia learned that going on normal dates is not necessary. Even very… unusual dates are good too, if it's for the sake of love!"

"I… see," Jellal replied, somewhat stunned by this observation.

She handed him the teddy bear and bowed to him. "Thank you so much, Jellal-san! And I know you will have a beautiful and romantic White Day! Juvia only hopes to have the same some day…"

"Ah, good luck to you," he said, as he watched her wave goodbye and run off towards the station, clutching the notepad to her chest.

* * *

"I can't believe he ended up choosing the stuffed bear," Sorano said to nobody in particular.

It was just after noon on the much-awaited White Day, and the sunlight streaming in through the guildhall's south-facing windows gave it quite a bright disposition. Or so Meredy thought as she pored over her brand new "Do-it-yourself Magical Drinks Mix."

"I can believe it," she replied, carefully adding drops of a purple liquid to two empty glasses. "In fact, I planned it that way."

"Eh?" Sorano somehow sounded bored, confused, and slightly interested all at once.

"Well, after I realized that only Juvia and I were left, I just threw the competition and let her win." Meredy added a few drops of a greenish liquid and then a milky-blue substance to her concoction. Smoke suddenly started billowing out of the cups, but then quickly subsided. "Eh? Is it supposed to do that?"

"Why on earth would you do that?"

"Because Erik says that essence of crocolizard is supposed to give it that extra zing... Oh, you meant why I threw the competition?" Meredy smiled and clasped her hands together. "I just found the prospect of tormenting Gray Fullbuster together as a guild for an entire day too delicious to ignore. It would be just the perfect bonding opportunity for all of us!"

"Gray Fullbuster?" Sorano frowned. "Ah, that's right. I copied him with Gemini seven years ago..."

"So you must know all his deepest, darkest secrets then?" Meredy smiled again and handed her a glass of shimmery pink liquid. "This is a Meredy original. I haven't come up with a name yet, though. Perhaps something sparkly?"

Sorano took a sip and made a face. "This... tastes like fluffy clouds, rainbows, and kittens. It's actually kind of good."

"I'm glad you like it," Meredy downed her own glass in a single gulp.

"Gray Fullbuster..." Sorano sounded thoughtful. "Wasn't he supposed to like Lucy or something? Eh, I can't keep track of who likes who with those kids. I do remember that he's been through a lot of trauma though. And I guess you figured that the only thing someone who's had a lot of trauma in his life needs is... even more trauma. Good job, Meredy. I knew there was a reason why I liked you."

"I like you too, Sorano nee-san!" Meredy threw her arms around her guildmate in a tight hug.

"That's true, you are like a sister to me, just nothing at all like my sister," Sorano said, taking a few more sips of her drink. "Wait, that was confusing."

"Not at all!" Meredy smiled.

"But anyway, back to the main topic, Jellal's terrible taste. At least he agreed to wear that suit that I brought. I can't believe he was just going to go in his normal clothes to an important meeting like this! Men can be so dense sometimes."

"He looked awfully uncomfortable in that suit though."

"Formal wear, unlike underwear, is not meant for comfort. It's to make a declaration of intent." Sorano finished her drink and frowned.

"Ahh, I see." Meredy ran through a list of possible declarations in her head until she found the only really plausible one. "So he's declaring that he's going to squirm and look miserable in that suit until she takes it off him?"

Sorano finally smiled. "I think you may be correct."

* * *

"So your guild members took it upon themselves to have a competition over who could offer the best White Day gift?" Erza's eyes seemed to sparkle at the thought.

"Yes, they come up with these strange ideas now and then. I'm afraid that Meredy might be a bad influence on them."

"The outcome is quite pleasing though." Erza smiled at the teddy bear, which was seated at their table with its very own serving of cake placed before it.

Nearby diners at this open-air café in Magnolia's shopping district stared at them, but Erza didn't seem to really care. Well, that was expected of her.

It was a nice little establishment with cute furnishings and a small open square next to it, where two performers dressed in country garb danced and twirled.

"What were the other suggestions then?" Erza stared at him.  
"Richard baked me a cake…ah, sorry, I already ate it," he quickly added when Erza perked up at the mention of cake. "I'll ask him to make you another one," he said as soon as he saw how disappointed she looked.

Erza smiled happily, her cheeks slightly pink. "Thank you, Jellal. I love... Richard's cake."

"Ah, of course. Sawyer gave me a recording of Gajeel's song, Best Friend." He paused for a moment, not quite sure what to say, since he didn't want to offend her by saying that he wasn't the biggest fan of her guildmate's music.

"Gajeel is the worst musician in all of Fiore," Erza declared with no amount of uncertainty. "Do you still have the recording? I might think about weaponizing it as a way of forcing extremely intractable enemies to submit. I must commend Sawyer on his choice of gift. It was very thoughtful and practical."

"Ah..." Jellal realized that his mouth was open and quickly closed it. "I'll bring it next time..."

"See that you do," Erza nodded and smiled. "What else was there?"

"Macbeth offered to create romantic illusions, but his idea of romantic involved a sea of red roses and a canopy of disembodied eyeballs."

"Oh," Erza's eyes were very round as she picked up the teddy bear's serving of cake and started eating it as well. "That really is very romantic. The very symbolism of the eyes that we have lost, my one and your two, watching over us, no matter where they might be now. And over a sea of red roses, my favorite flower. I must also commend him on a very thoughtful and nuanced gift. Your guild members are really quite talented, Jellal. I doubt that the members of Fairy Tail could think of anything half as beautiful."

Jellal realized then with a sinking feeling that Erza probably would have loved every single bizarre gift that his guild members suggested. From the silky underwear to the sensory link voodoo doll to the...

"And Erik suggested that boo-..." Jellal choked, suddenly realizing what he was about to say.

"That what?"

"The socks," Jellal said, coughing a bit and taking a sip of his tea. "He suggested socks."

"Socks," Erza repeated, somewhat confused.

"Yes... Erik thinks socks are romantic."

"I see..." Erza said, taking another bite of cake.

Jellal sighed, having narrowly missed a certain disaster. He was nowhere near ready to confess that he was reading that book. He adjusted his suit jacket and silently cursed Sorano again for forcing him to wear something so ill-suited to him.

"You look very uncomfortable in that suit," Erza observed as she took another bite of cake. "Perhaps we should do something about that."

Wait... was she suggesting what he thought she was suggesting...?

Erza finished her cake and glanced over at where the two performers were dancing. "I really like those costumes," she said with a predatory gleam in her eye. "Let's steal... err, borrow them."

Jellal sighed, feeling somewhat deflated. He then imagined briefly what Doranbolt's face might look like when he explained this latest little escapade that was developing before his eyes. And he remembered as well all his efforts to appear as normal and respectable as possible. What had he been doing all of that for? He was a bit shocked that he seemed to completely forget as soon as Erza stood up and extended her hand with a smile.

Perhaps his guild members were right and he should stop pretending that he wasn't as strange and off-center as any of them. And perhaps Juvia was right - that it was okay, as long as it was for the sake of love.

"Shall we?" she asked.

"Of course."

Jellal closed his eyes and cast a sleep spell that knocked out everyone in the square and possibly quite a few outside of it.

It was still best not to leave any witnesses.

**Author's Note:**

> The lyrics to Gajeel's song are loosely translated from the extended version of Fairy Tail Volume 16.


End file.
